He raised a single eyebrow at me and then went back to his notes. I squirmed in my seat, but didn’t say anything.
What could I say? Sorry, my psycho brother kidnapped you. Won’t happen again?
Even if I apologized every second of every day, it wouldn’t make up for what happened. Not that I felt like Johnny was holding it against me. He was too chill to hold a grudge like that.
Gideon pulled a frozen Tony’s pizza out of the freezer and twirled it in the air, grinning at me. I left Johnny to his work and joined him in the kitchen, leaning down to pull a pizza pan from one of the bottom cabinets.
Gideon’s arms closed around me, pulling me in tight. His lips brushed along my neck, causing a row of goosebumps to appear. As he planted a row of kisses on the bottom of my jaw, I leaned into his embrace. He’d only been out of town a few days, but I’d missed him.
I turned around and pressed myself against his chest, locking eyes with him and sliding my hands under his jacket. Pizza would have to wait. The smoldering look in Gideon’s eyes had me edging toward my bedroom. A few more steps and we could be alone.
My fantasy was shattered when a knock came from the door. Groaning, I withdrew my hands from Gideon’s muscular stomach and went to answer it. Johnny still sat at his table, intent on his work, oblivious to the world around him. I threw him some shade and grabbed the door knob. He could’ve answered the door. Then, Gideon and I could’ve made a hasty retreat.
Nonetheless, I opened the door to a man dressed in a dark suit. He had a thick head of grey and white hair, dark brown eyes, and a thin mouth that stretched into a frown. His skin was weather-beaten and tanned, as if he’d just gotten back from a vacation in the Bahamas.
A shimmer over his body transformed his skin into a blackened and papery thin veil that matched the coal-like irises of his eyes. I’d met creatures like him before. He was a shapeshifter. They had the ability to be anyone and anything they chose. No doubt, there was a man walking around the world somewhere with an identical face, unaware that a shapeshifter had used him for inspiration.
Something in the way he stood made me think he had a military background. I couldn’t stand that straight if I wanted to.
“Um…hi.” I cocked my head at him, waiting for a response.
“My name is SI Agent Lorne Carson,” he said, raising his chin and looking down his nose at me. “I am here to see Agent Ward.”
Gideon dropped the pizza pan on the kitchen floor and scrambled to the door. He was beside me in an instant, tugging on his coat and straightening his shirt.
“Good evening, sir,” he said a little too loudly. “What can I do for you?”
“First, you can introduce me to your lovely friend,” Agent Carson said, his frown still in place.
“Of course. This is Aya Harris. Aya, this is my boss, Agent Carson.” The words tumbled out of his mouth.
From the feeling I was getting, this meeting wasn’t planned. I’d never seen Gideon so nervous.
“Great. Now, if I could speak to you in the hall for a moment, Agent Ward. We have some important business to discuss.” Agent Carson stepped aside, motioning for Gideon to follow hi
m.
My stomach clenched as I shut the door behind him. A personal visit from the boss wasn’t a good thing. Maybe Gideon was in trouble for all the time he’d spent in Arcana this last month. Or maybe they were going to blame him for Nicky getting away. Either way, they were both my fault, but I doubted Agent Carson would care.
I busied myself with throwing the pizza in the stone cold oven and pacing the floor. The horrible feeling I had from my vision of the HQ taking me, was nothing compared to the dread I felt right now. I could protect myself from the HQ. I couldn’t protect Gideon from his boss.
The door to my apartment opened ten minutes later. Gideon walked in, his face flushed. He caught my eyes and nodded at my bedroom door. I followed him in, shutting the door behind me. Johnny didn’t need to be disturbed with our troubles. He had enough on his plate.
“What happened? Why is he here?” I didn’t wait long to pelt him with questions. “Are they blaming you for Nicky? Because if they are, I’m going to go down to SI headquarters myself and…”
“No, sit down.” Gideon sat on my black and white patterned comforter and patted the bed beside him.
“What is it?” Reluctantly, I sat beside him. “Is it bad?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he busied himself with picking at the cuticle of his thumbnail. His shoulders were stiff under his leather jacket, like he was standing at attention. In the past few weeks, I’d come to know Gideon as a very casual guy when off duty. He liked to throw back and relax when the job was done. This stiffness was cause for concern.
He sucked in his cheeks and pursed his lips before turning to me. “At first, I thought I was in trouble. I’ve been spending so much time in Arcana, I figured he was here to chew me out and take me back to Texas.”
I nodded. That had been one of my first thoughts, too.
“But, he didn’t say anything about that. In fact, he’s reassigning me. I’m off general investigations.”
I tried not to let myself freak out. If he was off general investigations, maybe they were demoting him to something like office duty. I’d hate to see Gideon cooped up. He really was good at his job and he loved helping people.